1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to the prevention or treatment of diabetes-related diseases using C-peptide. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method for preventing or treating diabetic angiogenesis impairment using C-peptide, a method for preventing or treating diabetic wound-healing impairment using C-peptide, and a composition for use in the prevention or treatment of the impairment, comprising C-peptide.
2. Description of the Related Art
Diabetes mellitus is a group of metabolic diseases with multiple etiologies, characterized by chronic hyperglycemia resulting from the absolute or functional deficiency of insulin activity. A high blood glucose level maintained for a long period of time causes a chronic metabolic disorder and causes damage to blood vessels, with the subsequent onset of various complications. These typically develop after 10 years of diabetes because almost all organs of the body are damaged. Particularly, insufficient angiogenesis is observed in diabetes patients. Angiogenesis is a crucial process for wound healing and the treatment of ischemic tissue injury, but does not normally proceed in diabetes patients. Accordingly, there is a need for a therapy for diabetic angiogenesis disorder, but no noticeable outcome has been reported so far.
These diabetic complications are associated with VEGF (vascular endothelial growth factor). VEGF is known to induce the phosphorylation of ERK1/2 and Akt and the production of NO, promoting angiogenesis, and serve as a vascular leakage factor to incur mascular edema.
Human C-peptide is a short peptide cleaved from proinsulin and is secreted in equimolar concentrations with insulin by pancreatic β-cells into the circulation. Deficiency of C-peptide, along with insulin, is a typical feature of type-1 diabetes mellitus and the later stages of type-2 diabetes mellitus, with the subsequent onset of various complications, including impaired wound healing. Impaired wound healing in diabetes is a serious complication leading to systemic infection, pain, ulceration, and amputation, and may even be fatal.
C-peptide is used for the diagnosis of diabetes, but there have been no reports on noticeable outcomes of the application of C-peptide to the treatment of diabetic angiogenesis disorder.
Under this background, the present inventors conducted intensive and thorough research into the treatment of diabetic angiogenesis impairment, and found that C-peptide can be used for protecting physiological angiogenesis impairment or stimulating wound healing in diabetes, leading to the present invention.